Prime Minister Netanyahu will be going to Cyprus on February 16 in what is the first-ever visit by an Israeli prime minister to the island country. Netanyahu hopes to increase cooperation with Cyprus in underwater drilling for natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as security cooperation in the wake of the crisis in Israel's relations with Turkey. Over the past few days, Cypriot media outlets have reported that Israel and Cyprus have signed a cooperation agreement relating to the protection of natural gas drilling sites. Recent discoveries of underwater natural gas reserves in Israeli and Cypriot economic waters are of strategic importance to both countries and are expected to bring in tens of billions of dollars into the countries' economies.